City govt well ahead of target on affordable housing

Shanghai added around 124,000 affordable rental housing units (rooms), newly built or remodeled, in the first half of 2022 – 71 percent of the municipal target for the year, Wang Zhen, head of the city's housing administration bureau, said on Friday.

By the end of this year, a total of 180,000 units will be completed, as the city continues to accelerate the development of its leasing market to better address the accommodation needs of the people, particularly the newcomers and young residents who can't afford a home ownership.

About 60,000 affordable rental housing units will be ready this year, many of which will be offered to locally employed fresh university graduates who don't have a place to settle in the city.

To smooth the renting process, the city is also speeding up its pace in building a public service platform where users can do multiple things online including filing applications, viewing and selecting properties, signing leasing contracts and paying their rent by drawing money from their personal housing provident funds, according to Wang.

Ultimately as the bureau has envisioned, applicants will be able to finish all the procedures and move into the house within one day.

According to an earlier government plan, some 470,000 affordable rental units will be added in the city during the five years through 2025, with the first two years accounting for more than half, or 240,000 units.